One-use isn’t good enough for OneWorld
In a bid to tackle single-use plastic bottle waste in the commercial environment one of our clients, Zip Water UK, has launched its Reuse Refill Refresh campaign which encourages offices to reduce their use of plastic bottled water. And of course, we’re supporting it wholeheartedly.
The Zip Water UK campaign actively encourages companies to pledge their businesses to reducing single-use plastic waste by cutting out the plastic bottle and using alternative systems in their offices to provide fresh drinking water, such as the new HydroChill from Zip Water UK.
As part of our anti-plastic revolution, we implemented a ban on single-use water bottles back in April. Breaking the ban results in a small fine which goes to our agency charity, Serv Norfolk.
2018 will be remembered for the year the world changed its outlook on plastic waste. Brought to our collective attention by the BBC Blue Planet programme, David Attenborough shocked the world with the hidden truth that the equivalent of a truck’s worth of contaminating plastics works its way into our oceans every day. Since then, international environmental awareness days, the media, charitable campaigns and companies such as our client Zip Water have all been working to educate the public further on the damage single-use plastic is doing to our oceans and environment.
One of the single-use plastics we are so unnecessarily dependent on is the water bottle. It’s estimated that 38.5 million plastic bottles are used each day in the UK alone. This colossal number doesn’t even include water cooler bottles and other commercial plastic bottle drinking water systems used in offices.
Implementing Zip’s pledge to reduce single-use plastic waste is the first of several small measures our eco team known as OneWorld is putting in motion. OneWorld was brought together to review different aspects of the agency where changes can be made to improve the sustainable outlook of the workspace, from waste management to transport into work.
A fortnight ago we raised the bar on the single-use plastic ban as the ‘ditch disposable drinks challenge’ was launched in celebration of World Environment Day and World Oceans Day. For a week, no single-use drinks containers were allowed in the office – meaning bottles of fizzy drinks to the disposable cup you’d have your morning coffee in were all prohibited.
The week was made easier by having a Zip HydroTap on site, offering instant filtered chilled, boiling and sparkling water, as well as a LiquidLine coffee machine to fulfill all our caffeine needs. Challenging ourselves to go without disposable drinks helped us re-evaluate how much single-use waste we bring into the office, while raising money for a worthy cause.
The week-long disposable drinks ban may be over but hopefully attitudes are changing when it comes to purchasing unnecessary plastic and there’s still a fine for bringing single use water bottles into the office. There is only one world after all and we should all be working to care for it. Reducing single-use plastic is just the start, the OneWorld team is exploring fun and exciting ways to make our agency greener, so watch this space over the next few weeks as we put more plans into action.
